Stacked thin-film superlattice thermoelectric devices

Active Publication Date: 2010-04-22
RAYTHEON TECH CORP
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Benefits of technology

[0013]It is believed, though not known for sure, that arrangement of thin-film superlattice elements within a stacked device configuration mitigates these thermal management issues.
[0014]We have determined that incorporating superlattice thin-film elements, alternating with adjacent thin-film elements or bulk elements, in stacked thermoelectric device configurations, results in overall device figures of merit which are higher than those attainable in conventional devices. We have also disco

Problems solved by technology

However, it has been shown that the thin-film superlattice elements, having an average element ZT of about 2, when configured in a conventional device, provide an overall figure of merit of about 0.5, and therefore do not improve overall device COP.
Thin film devices have interrelated properties which it is believed inte

Method used

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MODE(S) OF IMPLEMENTATION

[0023]Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional thermoelectric device 7 includes a plurality of elements 10-13 each comprising a single thermoelectric alloy. The elements 10-13 are traditionally formed of Group V-VI semiconductor elements from the Bi2Te3—Sb2Te3—Bi2Se3 ternary system of materials. The alloy of the p-type elements 10, 12 may comprise, for instance, a ternary alloy of antimony, bismuth and tellurium, such as Sb1.5 Bi0.5 Te3.0. The alloy of the n-type elements 11, 13 may comprise a ternary alloy of bismuth, tellurium and selenium, such as Bi2 Te2.7 Se3.0. The bulk-material elements 10-13 may typically be approximately cubic in shape (not to be confused with cubic crystal structure), with between about 0.1 mm and 1.0 mm in each of the X, Y and Z directions.

[0024]The elements 10-13 are serially connected through interconnects (INT) 16-20. The upper interconnects 17, 19 are thermally and electrically insulated from the lower interconnects 16, 18 and 20 ...

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Abstract

A thermoelectric device (31) includes a plurality of alternating p-type and n-type semiconductor thermoelectric elements (32, 34, 36; 33, 35 37) the elements (32-37) being separated by electrically and thermally conductive interconnects (40-45), alternating interconnects (40-44) extending in an opposite direction from interconnects (41-45) interspersed therewith. Each thin-film element comprises several hundred thermoelectric alloy A superlattice thin-films interspersed with several hundred thermoelectric alloy B superlattice thin-films, the thin-film elements being between 5 and 25 microns thick and preferably over 10 microns thick. The thin-film elements may be interspersed with opposite type thin-film elements or with opposite type bulk elements (33a, 34a). The interconnects are preferably joined to the elements by diffusion bonding.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001]N-type and p-type superlattice thin-film and / or bulk thermoelectric semiconductor elements are interspersed in a stack with electrically and thermally conductive interconnects disposed between adjacent elements. The interconnects form thermoelectric couples with elements on opposite sides thereof. Elements of adjacent couples alternate between p-type and n-type; each adjacent pair including at least one thin-film element. Each thin-film element is formed by a large number of superlattice thin-film layers, there being layers of one alloy interspersed with layers of another alloy; the alloys for p-type devices being different from the alloys for n-type elements.BACKGROUND ART [0002]Thermoelectric cooling and heating comprises use of p-type and n-type thermoelectric, semiconductor materials interspersed with each other, and formed into couples by electrically conductive interconnects.[0003]In conventional devices, the interconnects extend from the top of a first e...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): H01L35/16
CPCH01L35/32H01L35/26H10N10/857H10N10/17
Inventor WEISS, DIRK N.RADCLIFF, THOMAS D.WILLIGAN, RHONDA R.
Owner RAYTHEON TECH CORP
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